Exam stress linked to teen suicide

Conclusion Any death in a child or teenager is devastating for friends and family, but suicide is perhaps especially hard to bear. Thankfully, it is uncommon – young people are less likely to take their lives than older people. There are about 4.4 deaths for every 100,000 people among 15 to 19-year-olds, compared with 15.1 for every 100,000 people aged 40 to 44. However, because young people are also less likely to die of other causes, suicide among young people is a leading cause of death in this age group. Better understanding of the stresses that can lead to suicide are crucial for helping avert these deaths. It is striking that more than half of young people in this study had previously harmed themselves or expressed suicidal ideas. This suggests that many troubled youngsters are showing signs that suicide is a possible risk before their deaths. There are some drawbacks with this study, which are acknowledged by the researchers. The sources for the information – for most cases, coroner inquests – are not designed to be used for research. Inquests don't look systematically at all the possible factors that might contribute to a death. People giving evidence may be looking for a reason for the death, so may mention factors such as academic pressure, which were not necessarily a contributing cause. Other factors, such as sexual abuse, may be kept secret and not come to light. Because this is a case series study, we don't know how common any of these factors are ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Pregnancy/child Source Type: news